Saturday, December 22, 2007

More Thinking

A posting of The Rules on the CPS list got me thinking.

Some of you may have noticed this element in my regular, non-holiday blog header:
I made this Artist Trading Doll for a swap last spring, and ended up swapping a different one and keeping this one for myself. She stays near my art table in the treehouse, and keeps me mindful when I am creating, and mindful when I am stingy with my creating, and mindful when I become too critical of self and art. Her name is "Surgeon General's Warning: Excessive Self-Reinvention May Cause Enlarged Belly Button."

That's a take-off of one of Lolo's favorite phrases (she had thousands of them). The phrase was always some variation of "how dare you sit in the corner contemplating your navel and declaring the world ugly?"

It's a rare day that I find the world ugly; I tend to be a little too hopeful most days, but I am very critical of myself and my work. I want to ease up a bit, and plan to take my "Independence Day" posting into the new year and expand upon it. I hope to create with abandon, use the goodies from my creative stash, and particularly focus on rules 4 and 6 in that list posted above.

This is not, I repeat - NOT, a New Year's resolution. This is a personal goal, and there's a big difference, at least in my mind. I stink at New Year's resolutions. (Is that self-critical?)

2 comments:

Kai said...

I LOOOOVE those rules & intend to COPY them as a reminder to myself. And I so feel the same way about resolutions vs. personal goals. But isn't it funny that you say you are self-critical yet I wish I could be more LIKE you? Of course, I also wish I could be more like ME. (Hmmm ... I don't imagine that makes sense to anyone but me.)

Linda Fleming said...

Sounds like a great plan to me, Sue! I wish you could see your work through my eyes. But then I think quite a few of us share that self critical trait. I do have to say I have enjoyed creating much more lately, as I have given my self permission to follow my own quirky muse, rather than frustrating myself by trying to emulate the the creations I admire so much done by others.